Checkmate
by Lexy Wolfe
Summary: What happens when a Spring Break in Florida goes horribly wrong?
1. Deadly Little Secrets

ONE:

Deadly Little Secrets

Marluxia walked out of the gate and started to look for his boyfriend. He found him, asleep, lying across several seats. Instead of waking him gently, the pink-haired man decided to go over and kiss Vexen. The blonde jolted awake and instinctively kneed him in the balls.

"Vexen!" Marluxia wailed. "I thought you loved me!"

Coming to, and looking around, Vexen saw his boyfriend clutching his tenders in pain. Vexen's eyes widened as he realized his mistake. "Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry, Marly." He stood up and hugged the pink-haired man. "I promise I'll make it up to you tonight. In my hotel room. When we're _all alone_."

Marly smiled; thinking about Vexen naked always made him happy. "Okay." He whispered, before kissing the blonde again. "Do you always knee people like that? What if I'd been Axel? Can you imagine what he would have done to you?"

"Axel would not have kissed me like that. He would save that kind of thing for Roxy." Vexen replied.

Axel and Roxas walked up then. Axel wore a sly smirk on his face. "Are you guys talking about us?"

Marly smiled. "Vexen was just contemplating the consequences of him kneeing you in the balls."

Axel frowned. "One, I don't think Vexen would ever be stupid enough to do that. Two: If he was, I'd melt him into a puddle and throw him down a drain."

Vexen was speechless.

Thankfully, Roxas filled the silence with discussions of their plans for later. "So which beach are we going to? And who's driving?"

"I was thinking we could go to Clearwater Beach." Vexen suggested. "And I'm driving there. I don't know who will be driving back. Probably you, Roxas since you can't legally drink."

Roxas frowned. "Aw-w-w-w, why do you guys get to have all the fun?"

Marly smiled. "Because if we get arrested here, it will delay our arrivals back to college. Therefore, we are trying to be as legal as possible. That's why Vexen's driving. He's probably the safest driver out of all of us…"

Roxas crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. His pouty face soon vanished when he saw Vexen's hair slowly starting to defy gravity. The rest of the group noticed and started to laugh. Vexen noticed to and started looking around the airport for Larxene. She had to be somewhere close by.

"Larxene!" Vexen exclaimed. "I know you're here somewhere. And stop playing with my hair. I'm gay. I don't like girls."

The Savage Nymph approached the circle of friends, smiling. "Oh, Vexen. Don't flatter yourself. I don't like _you _like that. I just like vexing you is all." Larxene looked around. "Where's Xiggy, Demy, Lexy, and Zexy? I want to go to the beach _now_. I've been waiting _all _month." She whined.

Vexen rolled his eyes. "We've _all _been waiting _all _month for this. They should arrive shortly. Demyx lands at 10:15, while Lexaeus and Zexion land at 10:20." Vexen glanced at his watch. "It is 10:13 right now."

Larxene narrowed her eyes. "That sounds a little stalker-ish. How do you know that?"

"I am certainly _not _a stalker." Vexen huffed. "I know everyone's flight information because _I _planned this trip and its events." The Chilly Academic smiled smugly. "At approximately 11:00 we will begin our drive out to Clearwater Beach. Even though it is always crowded, it is one of the nicest beaches on the West Coast of the East Coast."

Before Larxene could respond with a cynical comment, Roxas was tackled to the ground by his best friend, Demyx. "Hi, Roxy!"

"Hey there, Dem-Dem." Roxas murmured while trying to push the over-excited blonde off of him.

Demyx rolled off of his friend and stood up. "Hey, where's Xiggy?" Demyx asked looking around the airport. "Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"Yeah, where _is _Xigbar, Vexen. I don't seem to recall you mentioning what time _his _flight would be landing." Larxene added unhelpfully.

Vexen let his eyes wander to anywhere but Demyx and Larxene's faces. Neither would understand why Xigbar hadn't been invited. The Chilly Academic barely understood himself. What he did understand was the Xemnas, Xigbar, and Xaldin were planning something sinister.

Vexen had been clearly instructed _not _to invite either of them. He had also been instructed to do other things. Things that he would probably regret and that he couldn't talk about. But before he could depress himself any further, his best friend, Lexaeus made his presence known. "Vexen!" He squealed. "We're finally in Florida!" The Silent Hero ran up behind the Chilly Academic and hugged him.

"Hopefully the temperatures will not rise too high." Vexen frowned. "I despise the heat."

"Oh don't be such a downer, Vexy." Lexaeus giggled. "We're going to have lots of fun."

"But not as much fun as we're going to have." Zexion whispered seductively into his boyfriend's ear.

Vexen rolled his eyes. "Now that we're all here, let's go get our luggage and head to the beach."

"But, Vexen," Demyx whined. "You didn't answer my question. Where's Xiggy at? Is he hurt?"

Vexen stared off into the distance. "Something came up at work. Xigbar could not make it to Florida for our vacation."

Demyx frowned. "But Xiggy promised he'd be here. So we could celebrate my twenty-first birthday by getting drunk on the beach."

"It was a last minute thing. He told me to tell you that he told me to tell you that he really wished he could be here."

"You're lying." Demyx accused angrily. "You know something and you're not telling me. Where's. Xiggy?" He demanded.

"I am not lying; I am merely withholding pieces of the truth. I am not on trial; therefore I am not required to tell the whole truth." Vexen explained calmly. "Now let's go get our luggage so we can head off to the beach."

*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*

Once inside of a black Honda Pilot with all of their colorful luggage, the eight friends started their trek to the beach. Vexen drove with Marluxia in the passenger seat. Lexaeus, Zexion, and Larxene sat in the middle row. Axel, Roxas, and Demyx sat in the back. The ginger's tongue explored Roxas' mouth.

Demyx stuck out his lip. A light drizzle began to fall outside. "Vexen, can you _please _tell me why Xiggy's not here? The rest of you are being all couple-y and I have no one to cuddle with."

"You're not the only one who's alone here." Lexaeus pointed out. "Larxene's alone, too."

This didn't cheer Demyx up at all. "But Larxene doesn't count. No one wants her so she's _always _alone."

"Hey!" Larxene shouted. "I _choose _to be alone."

The sky darkened and lightning flashed between the clouds.

Marluxia turned around in his seat. "Hey, guys, chill out. You're ruining our perfect beach day."

"And you're kind of making it a bit hard to drive." Vexen added as he slowed to a safe speed.

Despite their reasoning, the sky darkened further and the rain came harder.

"I want to know why Xiggy's not here!" Demyx wailed.

"And I told you that something came up at work." Vexen yelled. The rain turned to hail.

"Guys, hey!" Zexion shouted. "Relax. The Somebodies are going to notice something's up. Storms like this just don't appear out of nowhere and certainly not just around one car." He tried to delude the Somebodies into thinking that the storm covered more than just their car, which wasn't hard since the anger levels in the car were rising considerably.

"Vexen, stop making it so cold. You're giving Roxas goose-bumps." Axel snarled in disgust.

"Turn up the heat back there then, or deal with it yourself. You're a pyrokinetic, for Pete's sake." Vexen shot back angrily. Why was the Superior making him do this? He hated what he was about to do. He unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled the keys from the ignition. The car propelled him forward through the windshield. Vexen landed in the soft grass while the car skidded on ice, rolled into the ditch, and burst into flames.


	2. Lost Love

TWO:

Lost Love

The last thing Marluxia saw before the car exploded was his boyfriend being ejected from the front seat. Why on earth had Vexen unbuckled his seatbelt? He was supposed to be _smart_. Smart people know that seatbelts save lives. Now Vexen was gone forever.

*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*

Marluxia woke up in a hospital with no memory of anything before that very moment. Not even of how he got there. A nurse walked in with a clipboard. She smiled when she saw him. "Oh, good. You're awake. Now the doctor can test you to see if you have a concussion. That storm was pretty bad. Why on earth were you and your friends driving through it?"

"Uhh…"

"I'll be right back with Dr. Dowe. He'll be able to diagnose you better than I can." The nurse exited the room and left Marluxia wondering what the hell had happened. _Why _had _they been driving through the storm? _He thought. _My friends must be idiots…which makes me an idiot for hanging out with them. _

Dr. Dowe and his nurse returned. "Hello there." The doctor looked down at his clipboard.

"Could you please tell us your name? We couldn't find any form of identification in the wreckage."

"Uhh…" He couldn't remember that either.

The doctor frowned and shone a light in his eyes. The frown deepened. "Like the rest of your friends, you are very heavily concussed. I can't exactly tell when the effects will wear off, but next time don't drive in the middle of a Category 5 Hurricane."

"Was anyone seriously injured other than the concussions?" Marluxia asked, hoping his idiotic friends were still alive.

Dr. Dowe bit his lip. "There was one fatality. The driver hadn't been wearing his seatbelt when he was ejected from the car."

Parts of the crash came back to him. He remembered the blonde driver unbuckling his seatbelt, right before the crash. Almost as if this had been planned. Was someone trying to kill them? Marluxia would never know. The driver was dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Would you like to see the rest of your friends?" Dr. Dowe asked. "Maybe seeing one of them will jog your memory."

"Can I see the driver?" Marluxia knew the driver was the one with the answers. He would be the only one to jog any memories of anything.

"No." The doctor shook his head. "His body was taken to the morgue a couple of hours ago."

"I think seeing him would jog my memory."

"Well I can't let you leave the hospital. Not until we can get you and your friends to a safe place."

"Oh." Marluxia frowned. "Can I see my other friends then?"

"Sure." The nurse smiled and grabbed a wheelchair from a corner of the room. She carefully helped Marluxia into it and brought him to a room filled with six other people who sat in icy blue plastic chairs. The only female in the room sat alone in a corner, staring out the window. The five men sat in a loose semicircle. A tall ginger and a short blonde sat very close to each other, the blonde resting his head on the ginger's shoulder. Another blonde sat close to the first blonde, but not as close as the ginger. To the ginger's right sat a muscular brunette and a lean man with stormy-blue hair sitting very close to each other. Marluxia wondered what they remembered from the accident, if they remembered anything at all.

He waved. "Hey." Marluxia took the empty seat next to the blue-haired man.

There was a chorus of solemn "hellos". The worst part was, Marluxia barely remembered any of them. All he recognized was their faces. And although he couldn't remember the driver's name, he knew that was the man who had the answers to his questions and the man who held all of the secrets of the extensive mystery. Marluxia just needed to _see_ him, even if he couldn't talk back.

The doctor and his nurse left the seven friends alone. The ginger spoke up. "Since we can't remember who we are, we've decided to rename ourselves. I'm Alex."

The short blonde next to him spoke next. "And I'm Roxy."

The brunette was introduced as Lexy and the blue-haired man as Zexy. The other blonde called himself Demy. The female in the corner stayed silent.

Alex saw Marluxia staring at the girl in the corner. "Don't worry about her, she doesn't talk much." Alex clapped his hands together gaily. "Okay, now pick a name for yourself."

Marluxia thought for a moment. "Wait, those are all girl names."

"We've decided that we're all gay." Alex explained.

"Okay then. My new name is Melisa."

*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*XXX*

A couple hours later, a doctor came in and announced that they'd be moved to a chronic-injuries ward. The room pairings were as follows: Alex and Roxy, Lexy and Zexy, and then Melisa and girl. Demy was alone.

Melisa learned that the girl's name was Lillian. He felt closer to her than to any of the others. Maybe they'd been really close friends before the accident. Melisa decided to share his suspicions with her.

"That seems plausible." She whispered. "But why would anyone want to kill us? What did we ever do to them?"

Melisa smiled. "Maybe we were criminals before and the car 'accident' was an extensive plan by the government to kill us."

"There are two things wrong with your logic. One, I don't think we're stupid enough to go driving through a hurricane. Two, why would the government go through that much trouble to kill us? Whatever's going on, the person that was driving the car, that blonde you keep fantasizing about, was in on this conspiracy against us."

Melisa frowned. "I do _not _fantasize about him."

Lillian smiled and rolled her eyes. "Don't pretend that you're not gay for him, because you are and it's obvious. We should give him a name if we're going to talk about him so much. And going along with the theme of gay boys having girl names, I think his name should be Vixen."

"Okay, so we agree that Vixen was one of the conspirators." Melisa smiled sadly. "But what I don't understand is why we were driving through a hurricane in the first place. We can't be _that _stupid."

"No, I know we're not. If we were that stupid, we wouldn't be here discussing this. Stupid people don't think, they just _do_."

"Hey, this is completely off-topic, but earlier, when we were all in the room together, why were you sitting all alone?"

"Because I didn't have anyone to sit with." Lillian simply answered. "Alex has Roxy, Lexy has Zexy, and Demy just isn't my type."

"Well since we're both alone here, we have each other."

"Ugh." Lillian frowned. "I think I'm getting sugar-poisoning from all this mushy-gushy sugary sweet stuff."

"You can't get sugar-poisoning, Lillian." Melisa argued.

"Sure you can. I'm getting it right now." Lillian shot back.

"No wonder you're alone. You hate mushy-gushy lovey-dovey stuff like chocolates and roses and stuff."

All Lillian could do was stare.

"Hey, don't be like that. I'm sorry. I was only joking." Melisa hurriedly apologized.

"No, look. You've got roses in your lap. Where did those come from? They weren't there two seconds ago…" Lillian was clearly confused.

Melisa looked down at his lap. There, a bouquet of a dozen perfect red roses sat."How…?"

"You _are _gay. You can make _roses _appear out of thin air without even realizing it."

"I never denied being gay. I just denied being gay for the person who was trying to kill us. Even though you're probably right…"

Lillian rolled her eyes. "I'm always right. That much I know."

"Whatever. I wonder…do you have a cool ability too?" Melisa asked curiously.

"Well," Lillian laughed. "I wouldn't call being able to conjure roses 'cool' but maybe. Maybe mine is cooler, because I am so much cooler than you are. Being gay costs you a lot of cool points."

Melisa playfully slapped her on the arm. "It does not! And you can't be _that _much cooler than me if you hang out with a bunch of gay guys."

Lillian didn't say anything. She hated being wrong. Not that she would ever admit that she was wrong. Suddenly Melisa jumped. "Ow! That hurt. Did you do that?"

"Do what?" Lillian asked innocently.

Melisa was dumbfounded. How could she have missed that? "Shock me. Don't tell me you didn't notice."

"I didn't."

"Well it couldn't have been anyone else." Melisa replied sarcastically. "Hey, Lillian," He started thoughtfully.

"What?"

"What if we caused the storm? Like, I know I couldn't have done anything too serious, but what if the rest of you had something to do with it? What if your abilities were connected with your emotions? And the madder you got the more out of control your abilities got…and what if the reason we crashed was because of the storm we'd caused?"

"Well then I'd say, why the hell were so damn mad?"


End file.
